• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, November 16, 2014

Talk about an all-inclusive, complete brief! As part of its annual Creative Press Challenge, Dutch newspaper Persgroep briefed 110 creatives on the Iranian refugee situation for the charity group UAF by immersing them in the very issue they would be assigned to tackle. How? By using the virtual reality technology Oculus Rift and treadmill. The moment creatives step onto the installation, they step into the "true and traumatizing journey of a young refugee who was forced to flee from Iran to the Netherlands." The virtual reality experience is based on the memories and stories of a real refugee. Each step triggers a different memory and each scene features another key moment that steered him further away from his home in Iran: exploding mines, running from a courtroom, fleeing imprisonment, enduring torture in Turkey and escaping death. The Installation was developed by thispagecannotbefound.com in collaboration with creative directors Thijs Biersteker & Pieter van den Heuvel, director Daniel Nogueira and AMP Amsterdam. Of the briefing process, thispagecannotbefound.com Managing Director Edward Tetteroo said: “We finally have storytelling tools that are as powerful as the stories themselves. Let’s all use, combine and keep innovating them.” 

Is this why Michael Roth sold one-third of his IPG stock? Ad blogger, George Parker -- a true Mad Man if ever there were one -- thinks he has the answer. Or, well, two answers. Back in mid-October, Roth's sale of one-third of his IPG stock netted $8 million. Parker posits two scenarios. Parker writes: "The Poisoned Dwarf [Parker’s endearing reference to WPP CEO Martin Sorrell] is not going to swallow up IPG, and it will continue to float on the edges of irrelevancy...or some really f*cking nasty financial-account loss-sexual peccadillo news is on the horizon. Either way, RothNozzle appears to be clearing the decks before abandoning ship!" Hmm. So which is it? 

Well, here's yet another study confirming the obvious. Career entity The Creative Group recently conducted a study that found...wait for it...45% of advertising and marketing executives try to negotiate salary when presented with a job offer. To which, I say, only 45%? Really, people? Just 45% of you try to counter the pitiful offer you received to work in this crazy business? Apart from the 45% who do negotiate for salary, 36% ask for additional vacation time, 26% ask for flextime, 15% ask for telecommuting options, 5% ask for training or tuition reimbursement and 5% ask for a better job title or more responsibility. Well, one thing's for sure -- if you don't ask for anything, you're sure as hell not going to get it. But 45%? Really? Only 45%?

And while we're on the topic of career... The St Louis Dispatch is out with some interview tips that -- pardon my shock -- are so basic that it's hard to realize anyone actually makes these blunders. But according to the paper's "Job Doctor," they do. What are the screwups? 1. Asking your interviewer on a date. Yeah, someone did that. 2. Claim other's work as your own. Oh, that never happens in this business! 3. Badmouth your former boss. Seriously? Subtlety, people! 4. Go to Tucson. This one means to talk too much and ramble on. Don't do it. 5. TMI. Self-explanatory. 6. Lie. Again, don't be an idiot. The fact that these tips still have to be shared is just a really sad indication of our world. Then again, marketing and advertising have never been known as industries that attract honest, humble, reserved personality types.

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